Saturday, March 29, 2008

I Agree with Ohio A.G. Dann… Damn, that hurts to say


I am not in favor of the XM-Sirius merger… this is nothing new. I think it will cause higher prices, less choice in programming, and worse still, Mell Karmizan running all of satellite radio. Uncle Mel is not known for making radio better and he never met a commercial he did not like (ahem, CBS Radio).

In a statement released Wednesday, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann said:
“If this deal is allowed to proceed, Ohioans and radio listeners across the country will be forced to listen to limited programming offered by a monolithic entity at prices set in a monopolistic environment,” Mr. Dann said. “The antitrust laws were enacted to prevent deals like this. Since the Department of Justice didn’t use those laws to prevent this monopoly, the FCC should use its powers to protect the public interest.”
Look, if I wanted Sirius and Mel’s master, Howard Stern, I would have purchased a Sirius unit (and a lager car to carry one of their over-sized pieces of crap), but I didn’t.

Please, FCC, block this merger. Please.

3 comments:

Ben said...

I also hate to say I agree with Dann.

No question the merger will lead to higher prices to the consumer. They know people like me who have one of the services (XM) are never going to go back to regular radio. Thus they will clearly raise prices.

The Squeaky Wheel said...

I can't listen to regualr radio. I forgot my XM Inno (protable) radio once and so all I have was regular. Holy crap, I was pissed.

Also, I think Uncle Mel destroys good radio and adds commercials to everything and since he is Stern's bitch, I fear the days of Opie and Anthony are numbered... ugh

Ben said...

Agreed....when I forget my XM head in the car it is miserable. I dont know how I drove before.